Home (again).

I saw my new apartment again for the first time, last night.

For those who aren't in the know, I'm moving in with one of my two best friends, Joe, next month. I think that I am moving on the middle weekend of the month. Probably on the 17th. And then taking that weekend off to unpack and get moved into the space. Loads of books and DVDs to unpack and place in just the proper place.

It's a nice little two bedroom apartment on Lincoln Ave. It's up on the third floor, so I will be living in an apartment with sunlight again.

I'll acquire a private landing for coats and bags and such, a new television room, a sitting room, a computer office that will be in a converted closet, Joe's private office, a smallish bathroom and a bedroom with two windows in it. On one side of our apartment, every window opens up on a solid brick wall a foot and a half away.
On the other side of the apartment, all windows open up on blue skies and the barest view of the next door rooftop.

I have carpeting again. For the first time in four years.

I'm also closer to the grocery store than I was. And there's a greasy spoon diner across the street from us. North, up on Lincoln ave, there's the Davis theater, where I occasionally like to go see movies. And there's also a large branch of the library, a block away from my apartment. And also a park nearby.

I'm two blocks south of Lincoln Park, which is a great area of town.

And best of all, my new sitting room has two windows that are the perfect height for a little basset hound dog to peer down on the street from and watch traffic and people go by. After two years living in the basement apartment, Maggie gets sunlight and a view again. And I'm very, very happy about that. I think that this will be a good move for us both.

Yesterday, two friends of mine, Derek and Andrea descended on the apartment and gave it a MAJOR cleaning. They also moved furniture around to a tasteful design and restored Joe's bedroom to a workable condition. Previously, Joe's aesthetic design was best summed described as "6 inches of dirty clothes and other detritus covering every square inch of his bedroom floor". We were seriously considering nominating him for a visit from Queer Eye. Right now, as I am writing this, his bed is made, his clothes are bagged up, his pictures are all tastefully hung up on the wall and you can see carpeting again. It's pretty nice.

My room is practically empty. It has a bookshelf and a box spring mattress that I've inherited from the previous tenant. I'm going to paint it right around the first of next month. I'm thinking a deep, dark shade of rich blue. With white trim. I like the sound of that. And with two weeks before I move in, I'll very happily have plenty of time to do that before I ever move a box into place.

I also have this crazy idea of hanging a rope and pulley system above the back porch window. For no other purpose than to lower trash bags down to the backyard for safe placement in the dumpsters. We can either use this very smart pulley system or lug them down three flights of stairs with many akward twists and turns. The pulley system sounds smarter and smarter, every time I think about it. I can rig that up, in a single afternoon.

I'm using a professional moving company for this move too. A friend has recommended Moishe's Moving Company to me and I'm giving them my business. With the minimal amount of shit that I'll be moving, combined with the short move distance, I anticipate that the whole thing will run me a little over $200. And that's not too bad. It's absolutely worth it to NOT have to move anything myself. (Well, except Maggie, my plant and my glass picture frames and dishware. Which can be done in half a full load into the new space.) And I'm taking a day off from work after the move to unpack and get a little settled in. Nice. I'm really looking forward to that cozy, settling in, time.

Joe and I are both looking at this as not just an apartment move, but as a LifeStyle Upgrade.

We both want our living space to be an open, inviting space for friends to visit. We want to live in a place that doesn't smell like farts, or locker rooms or unwashed dogs. We want an apartment that we can bring a girl back to, without having to scramble to hide crap or apologize for our lack of taste in framed artwork or our unfortunate poster choices. We also want our apartments to be inviting to our visiting family members. To show them that we're adults and can take care of ourselves and live in an adult apartment perhaps without all of the junk that we used to have around our previous apartments.

A place we can be proud of.
A place that we can call "home".

Last night, as Derek and I knelt by the living room window, leaned out and looked down on that the street, I could see that it was lively and safe and well lit. Happy couples strolled by, enjoying the warmish weather. A band of free-roaming hippys wandered by, casually joking with one another. I knew then that this was a good move for me and Joe and Maggie. We will spend many happy afternoons in that apartment, living well.

More to come, as I get closer to the move, I am sure...

Mr. B



If you stepped up and walked into this picture and kept walking forward, down the street, you'd find my new apartment about two blocks down, on the left. And because it's such a safe neighborhood, you could walk around here at night and you'd be just fine.